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Advisor Communication with the Mass Affluent Investor

A majority of affluent investors expect return communication from their advisors within hours of delivering the message, either by phone or by email, according to Spectrem’s quarterly report on wealthy investors and their relationship with advisors.

Advisor Relationships and Changing Advice Requirements is an extensive examination of how affluent investors feel about their advisors, and what their expectations are from them. The research is separated into three segments based on wealth, including Mass Affluent (with a net worth between $100,000 and $1 million), Millionaire (with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million) and Ultra High Net Worth (with a net worth between $5 million and $25 million).

Among Mass Affluent investors, 52 percent expect to hear back from their advisor within 12 hours of the advisor getting a telephone call, and 51 percent expect the same return action from an email. The wealthier the investor, the less patient they are, as 56 percent of Millionaires want phone contact within 12 hours and 65 percent of Ultra High Net Worth investors believe 12 hours is long enough to wait.

Wait times for return emails are very similar.

The wealthier the investor, the more impatient they are regarding advisor contact. While 48 percent of Mass Affluent are willing to wait until the next day for a return phone call, only 44 percent of Millionaires say the next day is OK, and only 35 percent of UHNW investors can wait that long.

There are only tiny differences in the acceptable time frame based on the age of the investor.

Most investors have regularly scheduled conversations with their advisor to check up on the details of their financial plans or to discuss current investment events. Forty percent of Mass Affluent investors want that contact to occur quarterly, and 37 percent of them say that is actually the case. Another 36 percent expect contact to happen either semi-annually or annually, while 18 percent want monthly conversations and 3 percent want weekly communication with their advisor.

Three percent of Mass Affluent investors say they could go without ever having regularly scheduled conversations with their advisor, and 8 percent say that is exactly what happens, that they never get phone calls from their financial professional.